When Less Is More: Too Much Happiness May Be Too Much of a Good Thing

Are you happy? Well don't try to be happier; you might become less happy. That is the gist of a multi-cultural study published this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The study by University of Virginia psychology professor Shigehiro Oishi and colleagues at three other institutions found that, on average, European-Americans claim to be happy in general – more happy than Asian-Americans or Koreans or Japanese – but are more easily made less happy by negative events, and recover at a slower rate from negative events, than their counterparts in Asia or with an Asian ancestry.

On the other hand, Koreans, Japanese, and to a lesser extent, Asian-Americans, are less happy in general, but recover their emotional equilibrium more readily after a setback than European-Americans."We found that the more positive events a person has, the more they feel the effects of a negative event," Oishi says. "People seem to dwell on the negative thing when they have a large number of good events in their life. "It is like the person who is used to flying first class and becomes very annoyed if there is a half-hour delay. But the person who flies economy class accepts the delay in stride."

Oishi, a social psychologist who grew up in Japan and then moved to the United States at 23, is interested in comparing how people from East Asia and the United States respond to the daily events of life.He and his colleagues surveyed more than 350 college students in Japan, Korea and the United States over a three-week period. The students recorded daily their general state of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life, as well as the number of positive and negative events they had during the course of each day.

The researchers found that the European-Americans needed nearly two positive events (such as getting complimented or getting an A) to return to their normal level of happiness after each negative event, such as getting a parking ticket or a lower grade than expected. The Koreans, Japanese and Asian-Americans generally needed only one positive event to make up for each negative event.

Oishi says that people who become accustomed to numerous positive or happy events in their life are more likely to take a harder fall than people who have learned to accept the bad with the good. And because negative events have such a strong effect when occurring in the midst of numerous positive events, people find it difficult to be extremely happy. They reach a point of diminishing returns.This is why the extreme happiness people may feel after buying a new car or a house, or getting married, can be rapidly diminished when the payments come due or the daily spats begin. It becomes a problem of ratio, or perspective.

"In general, it's good to have a positive perspective," Oishi says, "But unless you can switch your mindset to accept the negative facts of everyday life — that these things happen and must be accepted — it becomes very hard to maintain a comfortable level of satisfaction."

His advice: "Don't try to be happier."

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Will More than 20 Million Americans Leave the United States?

New Global Initiatives Inc. has released an overview of its two-year study of American emigration to other nations. Six surveys totaling more than 100,000 adult Americans were completed from June of 2005 through December of 2006. Respondents were first asked, "Are you planning to relocate to another nation for more than two years for reasons other than the requirements of the military, the government or your job?"

Results indicate that more than 3 million Americans have already madethe decision to move, another 3 million say they are seriously considering it and are likely to move, while another 14 million say they are considering it and may move to another nation. In addition, more than 6 million Americans say they are seriously considering the purchase of avacation home or other property outside the US.

This is the first study of its kind ever undertaken, New Global says.

As Bob Adams, New Global's CEO puts it, "The numbers were far higher than we expected. Theyare clear evidence that migration is not a one-way street from poorer nations to the US. The global migration picture is far more complex than that."

The report discusses some of the demographic characteristics of American migrants, where they're interested in relocating, and their reasons for moving to another nation. "For some people, this is going to b ea controversial report," says Adams, "in terms of what people want to leave behind and what they expect to find."

One surprising result is that the group most interested in relocation outside the US is the 25-34 age group and by a substantial margin in comparison to other age groups.

"Traditionally, this age group has been thought to be the least likely to move outside the US. They were expected to be focused on marriage, family, and career at that age, thus most likely to settle down and stay put, but they are proving to be the most willing to pack their bags and leave the country. There is more than one surprise instore for the reader," notes Adams.

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